Kerry Washington

It's his wedding, and he'll throw his groom to the wolves if he wants to.

Thursday night's episode of Scandal focused on Cyrus Beene (Jeff Perry) the show's most Machiavellian character – and in this political drama, that's saying a lot.

A self-described "filthy monster," Cyrus can go from being Olivia Pope's (Kerry Washington) mentor and biggest champion to ordering her murder. And this week, his dalliance with prostitute Michael (Matthew Del Negro, who is truly Noah Wyle's clone) finally bit him in the butt.

And just when it looked like her character might be getting a Sex and the City ending, Huck (Guillermo Díaz) gave her a fate more suited for Law and Order: SVU.

Thursday's episode was all about feminist issues: the line between owning your sexuality and being abused, the scrutiny a successful woman is subjected to versus a man. Though the Girls creator met a tragic end, our heroine rediscovered her erotic power with – surprise! – a man besides Jake (Scott Foley) or Fitz (Tony Goldwyn).

Everyone comes to Olivia Pope for advice: Her friends. Her co-workers. The president of the United States. Politicians in trouble, recovering assassins, her own kidnapper while trying to leverage an online bidding war for her freedom.

"I don't think I consciously say, 'What would Olivia Pope do?' but there's a new thread of belief in my own capacity that I think comes from her," the Scandal star says in April issue of Marie Claire, on stands March 24. "She makes it happen. She figures it out. She fixes it."

If this isn't the role of the lifetime for Kerry Washington, it sure comes close.

The Scandal star will play Anita Hill, who was thrust into the spotlight in 1991 when she accused U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment – for an HBO biopic called Confirmation, PEOPLE has confirmed.

The movie is set to document the subsequent confirmation hearings and their indelible impact on modern culture and the workplace.

The ABC drama doesn't openly discuss race often, but when it does – from Olivia's searing "I'm feeling a little, I don't know, Sally Hemings/Thomas Jefferson about this" jab to her father's mantra that she had to be "twice as good" – it's a raw reminder that, even in Shondaland, America is far from color-blind.